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Hold On Jasta Minute!

Is Saudi Arabia responsible for 9/11? The president, not the courts, must decide.

By

David B. Rivkin Jr. and

Lee A. Casey

Nov. 30, 2016 7:15 p.m. ET

Legal tradition says that hard cases make bad law. Few cases are harder than those having to do with the plight of the families of 9/11 victims.

This led Congress to adopt the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. Jasta, as it is known, gives federal courts the power to determine whether a foreign state has intentionally sponsored terror against American citizens. This power, however, belongs to the president and cannot be...